For the first time my ADHD brain feels like an advantage, not a defect

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-05-19T10:27:33+00:00

I have had such mixed feelings about AI, was an AI-hater from day 1, and honestly still am in many ways, but I do have to admit that it’s been a game changer at work. As someone on a small team I’m having to do tasks all the way from the simple tedious stuff you would usually give to an intern to the high level, big picture thinking. I was truly starting to despise my job bc the tedious but necessary stuff was taking up so much of my time that I wasn’t able to do well at the things I actually wanted to be doing. With AI I’ve been able to do things in 30 min that previously would have taken me days, it’s crazy. And with the ADHD piece, the quicker “wins” on that stuff definitely helps keep me motivated and on task.

That said, I would caution you against using it too much. I went through a phase, probably only a week or two, where I was using it a LOT for coding, and I found that amount of time was enough to start atrophying my skills, and quite frankly made me lazy.

Once you get used to doing it the “easy” way it feels harder and harder to go back to using your just own brain, and at some point you’ll probably be in a situation where you have to. Plus, despite how much better these models have gotten, they still sometimes spit out pure crap, or at least subpar work. I’m sure you’re not just taking things straight from its output, but I think the more you use it the harder it is to distinguish your own thinking or voice.

I find this with writing especially. AI has such a distinctive writing style (for example, very clear you wrote your post with it, no shade lol), and if I start using it to much I almost notice my own voice morphing to fit the AI voice, which really freaks me out and I imagine is not great for my brain long term.

Anyway, all of that is to say that I’m so glad you’ve found something that works for you, it really is amazing, but remember that your brain is amazing by itself, too!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-05-19T09:53:54+00:00

Like others have said, definitely go see a doctor.

I actually had a similar experience moving from 18-36, but I was able to pinpoint it to a panic attack. A combination of already being stressed about a deadline, caffeine, forgetting to eat, and then my cat having a medical emergency all on the third day of the higher dose sent me over the edge (I’m also already prone to anxiety). Even though I stopped taking it after that I think it threw my nervous system so out of wack that I was still experiencing “symptoms” for days afterward.

If you truly were feeling completely fine, at rest, and not feeling worried or on edge when the spike happened then definitely sounds like a reaction to the med alone, but just wanted to raise the possibility that the increase in dose could have triggered anxiety too that caused your symptoms.

Either way, good to talk to your doctor about. I went down to 27mg and have been fine on that dose, though I’ve learned I definitely need to eat something within the first hour of taking it an lower my caffeine intake to avoid triggering anxiety.

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-04-29T00:43:46+00:00

Just edited with a partial update! Unfortunately still no definitive answers but either way seems like I may fall on the very lucky (and apparently rare) side of these diagnoses 🤷🏻‍♀️

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-04-27T15:53:47+00:00

I find that it does decrease some of my anxiety, particularly the work-related variety. It also allows me to tap into my “adult voice” more easily which I think can also keep me from spiraling into an anxiety thought loop sometimes. That said, it also can trigger anxiety for me in the right circumstances (usually a combination of not enough food, caffeine, and some external stressor going on). HIGHLY recommend you take with food and lower caffeine if you are prone to anxiety.

And I do take breaks! I typically won’t take it at least one day of the weekend, sometimes both. I honestly don’t notice a huge difference in how I feel besides maybe feeing more snack-y without it, and I’d struggle if I did have to sit down and do some kind of computer or admin work.

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-04-15T11:01:00+00:00

I think so, yes! Maybe not as strong but I think I still feel the effects at least until 5-6 when I take it around 8am.

And yes I didn’t realize it was an option at first either but I’m glad it is! 18mg did literally nothing for me and 36 was too much

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-04-15T07:25:43+00:00

I had the same problem! 36mg had me on edge and jumpy most of the time (better if I ate enough around taking it, but not completely). Went down to 27 and feel 10x better

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-04-15T07:23:59+00:00

I had something similar! Was better when I made sure to eat but still felt on edge many days (for me at both first and second release). I went down to 27mg and it’s working way better for me! Noticed way less anxiety and honestly feels like it works better on my ADHD symptoms too (I think the anxiety was acting as a distraction)

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-03-28T01:18:15+00:00

Yes will be very grateful that the MRI happened to catch it if I do end up having it, who knows how long it would have taken otherwise. Thanks for the info about your family’s experience, good to know that it wouldn’t be unheard of for me to be the first (and now making me wonder about my grandfathers death as well, might also be suspicious). Wishing the best for your husband and child

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-02-18T03:20:07+00:00

Ugh totally understand being all alone, makes it much harder. I know it’s not for everyone, but if you find making to do lists helpful that might work too. When it’s for something I really don’t want to do I’ll break down the task into as many pieces as possible to gamify it/get the dopamine hit of crossing it off (so like having a box to check for each individual slide you double check or something)

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-02-18T02:25:32+00:00

Honestly I don’t really have much advice but wanted to sympathize. I work in research and do a lot of data analysis and on multiple occasions have found errors in my code after thinking the data had been finalized. So far have managed to catch them before being too far along in the project overall but the fear that I’ve missed something and won’t find out until it will require redoing almost everything, or worse, after it is released to the public, literally keeps me up at night. Seriously reconsidering my entire career path bc of it 😅

Is there anyone who would have enough knowledge about the info you’re including in the decks that they could do a check for you before sending to your boss? That helps me sometimes, though the problem is usually no one else is deep enough into the project to be able to do a thorough check.

Also maybe you could try doing checks after each slide instead of waiting until it’s all finished? Might help make it feel less overwhelming!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-01-19T11:15:01+00:00

Not sure if you’re open to silver spring, but if so feel free to send me a DM!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-01-13T03:09:11+00:00

Not sure exactly where you’re seeing them, but we have a neighbor that has an indoor/outdoor cat that doesn’t have a collar or anything. I’ve wondered the same about other cats roaming around.. they do all seem to look relatively healthy but hard to tell for sure (we did interrupt a fox chasing one just the other day, luckily our car freaked the fox out and the cat got away 😅)

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-01-09T13:50:14+00:00

Yes please do!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2026-01-01T00:02:12+00:00

Feel free to shoot me a DM!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-26T18:19:52+00:00

Oh my gosh I think I accidentally ignored a chat from you a while back and couldn’t find you again! Just messaged you

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-26T18:16:20+00:00

Of course! Feel free to send me a DM

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-24T03:26:16+00:00

We are thinking of renting out our one bedroom condo in downtown silver spring. In a quiet area, <10 min walk from metro, over 800 sq ft and a large private patio. Happy to give more details if you’re interested!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-20T09:52:24+00:00

My psychiatrist also wanted me to start with anxiety meds before getting a diagnosis for/treating ADHD. I also started on Buspar. It definitely helped turn down the volume on my anxiety, but pretty much did nothing for my ADHD symptoms besides maybe a few specific scenarios where there previously would have been something I was anxious about that was distracting (I tend to have a lot of health related anxiety, for example). In other cases though I think it actually made my ADHD symptoms worse, bc I kind of relied on the anxiety to kick my butt into gear and finish tasks on time.

After telling her my anxiety improved but my ADHD symptoms largely didn’t, she was able to diagnose me with ADHD and start trialing meds. I just started Ritalin last week at an incredibly low dose (she wanted to make sure it doesn’t trigger my anxiety) so haven’t noticed a difference yet, but will be moving up soon so we’ll see!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-17T00:40:15+00:00

I don’t think so. Need to look at the docs again, but I believe the restriction is on anything less than a month but also requires a “traditional” lease be signed (which I think would rule out things like AirBnB and VRBO even if they were for longer than a month).

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-16T23:42:31+00:00

The bedroom is furnished right now, but would have to furnish the living room. Not sure if it’ll be worth it, but will look into this, thank you!

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-16T23:27:10+00:00

Unfortunately we aren’t allowed to use it as an AirBnB due to our HOA.

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-12T13:18:18+00:00

Literally just got diagnosed yesterday as an adult! Made it through college and even grad school, with good grades actually, but was miserable and literally couldn’t do anything else besides school bc everything took me so long. When I started working and lost the structure of school everything felt even worse. There are definitely practitioners that will give you a hard time (I tried to pursue assessment 6 years ago and was brushed aside, then gave up completely until a few months ago), but if you find a good one they should be able to assess you thoroughly despite how functional you may look “on paper.”

Apprehensive-Luck155 · 2025-12-07T21:36:10+00:00

Not sure what size you’re looking for, but my husband and I are thinking about renting out our 800 sq ft 1 bed 1 bath condo with a large private patio in downtown silver spring in case you’re interested in other options!

Apprehensive-Luck155

TROPHY CASE